Ecology and management of the invasive lionfish Pterois volitans/miles complex (Perciformes: Scorpaenidae) in Southern Costa Rica Vera Sandel1, Damián Martínez-Fernández2, Daniel Wangpraseurt3 & Luis Sierra4 1.
Programa de Maestría en Ciencias Marinas y Costeras de la Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Avenida 2, Puntarenas, Costa Rica;
[email protected] 2. Consolidating Costa Rica’s Marine Protected Areas Project SINAC-PNUD-GEF, 1735-1002 San José, Costa Rica;
[email protected] 3. Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, 15 Broadway, Ultimo NSW 2007, Australia;
[email protected] 4. Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Avenida 1, Calle 9, Heredia, Costa Rica;
[email protected] Received 03-VI-2014.
Corrected 30-IX-2014.
Accepted 28-X-2014.
Abstract: Invasive species alter ecosystem integrity and functioning and are considered one of the major threats to biodiversity on a global scale. The indopacific lionfish (Pterois volitans [Linnaeus, 1758] / miles [Bennet, 1882] complex) is the first non-native marine fish that has established itself in the Western Atlantic. It was first reported in Florida in the 1980s and then spread across the entire Caribbean in subsequent years. In Costa Rica, lionfish were first sighted by the end of 2008 and are now present in all South Caribbean reefs. Lionfish are a major problem for local fisherman by displacing native fish species. The aim of this study was to determine population density, size and diet of lionfish populations at four study sites along the Southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Two of the sites were located inside the National Park Cahuita where regular lionfish removal occurs, whereas the other two study sides do not experiment this kind of management. Total length and wet weight of >450 lionfish individuals were determined between March and June 2011. Three relative metrics of prey quantity (percent number, percent frequency, and percent weight) were compared from ~300 lionfish caught with the polespear in shallow waters (
